Bonus Watch '12: RBS Makes Sure Stephen Hester Isn’t Thinking Of Going Anywhere

Author:
Publish date:

The Queen did want to acknowledge all the work he's done, though, so she threw the government worker a bone he can collect a few years from now.

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC is awarding its chief executive officer a bonus of a bonus of around £963,000 ($1.5 million), paid fully in shares that will be deferred until 2014, capping weeks of public wrangling over bonus payouts at the U.K. bank. The bank said Thursday that Stephen Hester, CEO of the 83% government-owned lender, is being rewarded by its board for progress in shrinking RBS's once large and risky balance sheet and returning most businesses to profitability. Mr. Hester took the helm in late 2008 as the bank was on the brink of collapse. The bonus is about half of what he received for 2010. The bonus— made up of shares currently valued at £963,000—is in addition to his 2011 salary, which was £1.2 million. "A safer and more valuable RBS is in the interests of our customers, shareholders and the UK economy and we are progressing well towards this goal under the leadership of Stephen Hester, " Philip Hampton, the bank's chairman, said in a statement.

[WSJ]

Related

News

Layoffs Watch '12: RBS

Like Bank of America, RBS has some big goals for the coming year, chief among them being the firing of several thousand investment bankers. (For those skeptical they can do it, according to a PowerPoint presentation presented yesterday, re: the "exits," quite a bit of progress has already been made.) Royal Bank of Scotland, Britain’s biggest government-owned lender, said it will cut 300 more jobs at its investment banking unit and is “on track” with its plan to exit businesses. RBS will eliminate 3,800 jobs at the division by the fourth quarter of next year, compared with an earlier target of 3,500, according to slides based on a presentation delivered by John Hourican, chief of markets and international banking, to analysts Monday. About 3,000 of the cuts will have completed this year, RBS said...The bank’s control of costs is “ongoing,” said Chris Kyle, chief financial officer of markets and international banking, at the presentation. “We will almost certainly hit this year’s number” in terms of the guidance, he said. Royal Bank Of Scotland Cuts 300 More Jobs At Investment Bank [Bloomberg] RBS Markets Investor Roundtable [RBS]